Transcript of World War II Vet on Marriage Equality

For those of you that follow me here and Posterous, you should know that I normally don’t mention politics or other divisive subjects here on my blog.  On Posterous, I frequently link to a number of political or controversial issues, but not on my blog.  However, a few things happened today that made it clear to me that this needed to be published.

First, there was a letter to the editor of The Beaufort Gazette on gays in the military that got my heart rate up a bit.  Then, Chris Guillebeau started a great discussion about doing the right thing on his blog The Art of Nonconformity.  Finally, Google’s “cool via recommendations” RSS feed popped up this touching video from a 86 year old WWII vet about equality.  I’ve transcribed the video because it’s a bit hard to follow at times.

“Good Morning Committee. My name is Phillip Spooner and I live at 5 Graham Street in Biddeford. I am 86 years old and a life time Republican and an active VFW chairman. I still serve 3 hospitals and 2 nursing homes, and I also served Meals on Wheels for 9 years. My wife of 54 years, Jenny, died in 1997, together we had four children including one gay son. All four of our boys were in the service. I was born on a potato farm north of Caribou, in Parham, where I was raised to believe that all men are created equal and I’ve never forgotten that. I served in the US Army from 1942-1945, in the 1st Army as a medic and ambulance drive. I worked with every outfit over there, including Patton’s 3rd Army. I saw action in all five major battles in Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge. My unit was awarded the Presidential Citation for transporting more patients with fewer accidents than any ambulance unit in the war. I was in the liberation of Paris. After the war, I carried POW’s back from Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia and also hauled hundreds of injured Germans back to Germany.

I’m here because of a conversation I had last June when I was voting. A woman at my polling place asked me “Do you believe in equal, equality for gay and lesbian people?” I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her, “What do you think our boys fought for on Omaha Beach?” I saw so much blood and guts, so much suffering, much sadness and sacrifice. For what? For freedom and equality. These are the values that make America a great nation, one worth dying for. I give talks to 8th grade teachers about WWII and I don’t tell them about the horror. Maybe I should tell them about the ovens at Buchenwald and Dachau. I’ve seen with my own eyes the consequences of a caste system, one that makes some people less than others, or second-class. Never Again.

We must have equal right for everyone. It’s what this country was started for. It takes all kinds of people to make the world work. It doesn’t make any sense that some people that love each other can marry and other can’t, just because of who they are. This is what we fought for in WWII; that idea that we can be different and still be equal. My wife and I didn’t raise 4 sons with the idea that three of them would have a certain set of rights but our gay child would be left out. We raised them all to be hardworking, proud, loyal Americans. And they all did good. I think if two adults that love each other and want to get married, they should be able to. Everybody is supposed to be equal and have equality in this country. Let gay people have the right to marry.”

I don’t know what else you can really say.

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Tagged as: biddeford, caribou, controversial issues, doing the right thing, gays in the military, liberation of paris, meals on wheels, parham, potato farm, presidential citation, wwii vet